Windows 7 not connected to mapped drives or internet but it is

Hi, I have a large workgroup with a mixture of XP and Win7 workstations, each daisy-chained to network through its VOIP phone (Cisco). The Win7 workstation of the boss and only this machine, has an issue with connectivity. The network icon in the systray shows a red X and the Network Sharing Center shows the computer is not connected to anything. Furthermore, Explorer displays a message saying the computer is not connected to a network, even while the internet works and all the shares, mapped drives, and workgroup members show up fine and are accesssible under "Network". We would ignore this funkiness, except that randomly the computer will lose all connectivity for hours on end and then regain it spontaneously. I tried creating a new user profile and resetting power saver modes for the NIC, but with no effect. Is there anything else I should try?

I'm running out of ideas as well but Ugumba has a suggestion here and deanfp provided the instructions. Also check Novak Wu's suggestions for Network Location Awareness. There is also a few other suggestions

My concern is the red x on the network icon, this means that some how you are losing your network connection with out this network connection you will not be able to connect to the internet or your network drives. Is the windows pc the home edition or professional? You can find this information by right clicking on Computer and select properties.
Although you can connect using the home edition the professional version has more network capabilities making it easier to connect. Sounds like an intermittent problem, as previously mentioned try a known good network cable, reinstall the drivers, verify that the VOIP phone (Cisco) is working properly. Try swapping the phone with another phone to see if you still are having problems. If the phone is working fine, or you swapped the phone and the phone is working fine, but the computer is still having issues then it could be a bad network card, especially if reinstalling the drivers, changing the network cable and turning off the power save option on the nic did not resolve the issue

Well, last night I had the chance to try all of your suggestions, including some made by the people at Dell. I tried:
1) flashing with updated BIOS
2) updating NIC driver with a new file provided by Dell
3) creating a new user profile
4) shutting off firewall
5) checked power saver mode of the NIC - turned it off
6) bypassed both VOIP phone and the jack a the desk with another cable to another desk location
7) checked network discovery- it was turned on

Sadly, none of this made any difference. I don't understand how Network Sharing and the systray icon can say it's not connected and yet shares, mapped drives, and internet work mostly fine. A bad network card??

An update. I spoke with Dell support ( it is a Dell desktop) and we agreed to replace the motherboard. That was done today and it made no difference. What else can we do, except wipe the hard drive clean and re install the OS and all the apps?

Highfive is so simple that setting up every meeting room takes just minutes and every employee will be able to start or join a call from any room with ease. Never be called into a meeting just to get it started again. This is how video conferencing should work!

If the service is running: IE there is no red x icon Remove and then add LOCAL SERVICE.
You are only modifying Launch and Activation Permissions. Do not change Access Permissions as they are set to Default.

Open an Elvated Command prompt and type in the below command line....

sc stop netprofm

You will notice that there is a red x on the Network icon.

Click the Start button.
In the Start Search box, type in dcomcnfg and press Enter.
Now expand Component Services, Computers, My computer, double click DCOM config.
Scroll down until you find netprofm.
Right Click, select Properties, click Security.
Under Launch and Activation Permissions, click Customize click Edit.
Click on Local Service and select Remove then click OK.
Click Customize click Edit.
Click Add and type in LOCAL SERVICE click Check Names ensure that LOCAL SERVICE is underscored and then click OK.
Under Permissions select Allow in all radio boxes.
Click OK and Click Apply and then click OK. close dcomcnfg.

Open an Elvated Command prompt and type in the below command line....
sc start netprofm

If you map a drive to a network share, the mapped drive may be disconnected after a regular interval of inactivity, and Windows Explorer may display a red "X" on the icon of the mapped drive. However, if you try to access or browse the mapped drive, it reconnects quickly.

To turn off the autodisconnect feature, open an an Elevated command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER:

I've tried all of the above suggestions, to no avail. Not a single bit of difference in either the systray network icon or the network and sharing center. They all say "not connected" to any network, yet everything is working for now. I'm completely stumped.

I'm running out of ideas as well but Ugumba has a suggestion here and deanfp provided the instructions. Also check Novak Wu's suggestions for Network Location Awareness. There is also a few other suggestions to look at.

Eureka! We found it. This last suggestion did it! It seems that in the registry key, HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList neither networkservice nor localservice was listed as a user with permissions. In adding them and giving them full control, inheritable to sub-keys, the problem disappeared completely. Solved! Thanks rrjmin0 a ton!

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